Former sports reporter Kelli Tennant speaks during a news conference on Tuesday afternoon in Los Angeles. Tennant filed a lawsuit in L.A. County Superior Court on Monday, contending that former Lakers coach Luke Walton assaulted her in a hotel room in Santa Monica while he was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Attorney Garo Mardirossian, left, pats the back of former sports reporter Kelli Tennant before the start of a news conference, Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Los Angeles. Tennant filed the suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, contending new Sacramento Kings NBA basketball coach Luke Walton assaulted her in a hotel room in Santa Monica while he was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Former sports reporter Kelli Tennant listens to her attorney Garo Mardirossian during a news conference, Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Los Angeles. Tennant filed the suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, contending new Sacramento Kings NBA basketball coach Luke Walton assaulted her in a hotel room in Santa Monica while he was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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Former sports reporter Kelli Tennant speaks during a news conference Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Los Angeles. Tennant filed the suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, contending new Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton assaulted her in a hotel room in Santa Monica while he was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Former sports reporter Kelli Tennant speaks during a news conference Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Los Angeles. Tennant filed the suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, contending new Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton assaulted her in a hotel room in Santa Monica while he was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Former sports reporter Kelli Tennant, center, answers questions from the media as she is joined by her attorneys Garo Mardirossian, left, and David deRubertis during a news conference, Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Los Angeles. Tennant filed the suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, contending new Sacramento Kings NBA basketball coach Luke Walton assaulted her in a hotel room in Santa Monica while he was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Former sports reporter Kelli Tennant attends a news conference Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Los Angeles. Tennant filed the suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, contending new Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton assaulted her in a hotel room in Santa Monica while he was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Former sports reporter Kelli Tennant speaks during a news conference, Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Los Angeles. Tennant filed a suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, contending new Sacramento Kings NBA basketball coach Luke Walton assaulted her in a hotel room in Santa Monica while he was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Former sports reporter Kelli Tennant pauses while speaking during a news conference, Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Los Angeles. Tennant filed a suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, contending new Sacramento Kings basketball coach Luke Walton assaulted her in a hotel room in Santa Monica while he was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Former sports reporter Kelli Tennant attends a news conference Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Los Angeles. Tennant filed the suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, contending new Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton assaulted her in a hotel room in Santa Monica while he was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Former sports reporter Kelli Tennant answers questions from the media during a news conference, Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Los Angeles. Tennant filed a suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, contending new Sacramento Kings NBA basketball coach Luke Walton assaulted her in a hotel room in Santa Monica while he was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

LOS ANGELES — For the first time since her lawsuit accusing Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton of sexual assault leaked into the public, Kelli Tennant spoke in her own words about the alleged 2014 incident that she said made her feel “disgusted and betrayed.”

When asked why she did not report the alleged assault to police or her employer before a Tuesday press conference at her attorney’s office in Los Angeles, Tennant said she was afraid to speak out.

“I was scared,” she said. “I felt coming forward would jeopardize every aspect of my life.”

Almost everything Tennant said was available on paper in a suit filed to California Superior Court this week by her attorneys Garo Mardirossian and David deRubertis. But Tennant’s in-person account brought a face to accusations she’s mostly kept to herself for five years.

Tennant, a 31-year-old former reporter for Spectrum SportsNet, seemed to need brief pauses to collect herself as she recounted a visit she made to Walton’s Santa Monica hotel room when he was an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors. She said Walton pinned her to the bed with both his arms and all of his weight as he kissed her on her face, neck and chest and pressed himself against her despite her protests.

Tennant said Walton laughed as she begged for him to stop.

“I thought he was going to rape me,” she said.

While Walton eventually released her – not before restraining her again as she tried to leave the room, Tennant said – the encounter made her fearful for her employment. She had worked with Walton at the television network before and had come to trust him as a mentor and friend, enough so that Walton wrote the foreword to her book which was published shortly before the encounter. It led to a spiral that ultimately drove her to leave her job as she tried to come to terms with it.

Now, Tennant said, she is tired of trying to bury the past.

“I am no longer comfortable being silent about the things that have happened to me,” she said. “Although this may come as a shock to many of you in this community, this is a reality that I have been living with for years.”

Tennant said it took her this long to determine it was time to act: Her attorneys submitted the suit earlier this week, and seemed displeased that word of it had leaked into the public eye. Mardirossian said there was no plan to file a criminal complaint, but that they might still be open to working with police on any potential investigation.

Part of the calculation to file a civil suit against Walton is the burden of proof: Mardirossian was openly skeptical that a police investigation from a 5-year-old case with little apparent physical evidence would have a strong chance of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Walton assaulted Tennant. While he said that certain physical evidence, such as pictures of bruises or surveillance tape, would likely be unavailable in court, Tennant did tell several people about the assault prior to the suit – Mardirossian said “immediate family” as well as at least one person outside of her blood relatives.

He also suggested that the legal team’s interest “is not to put Mr. Walton in jail,” but to seek damages for what happened and to help Tennant recover a sense of pride. Tennant said she never personally confronted Walton about the incident. Her attorney suggested that forgiveness was not out of the question.

“An apology would go a long, long way,” Mardirossian said.

Tennant said she was initially relieved to know that Walton would be employed with Golden State, but her circumstances became more difficult after he was hired to coach the Lakers in 2016. She described another encounter in 2017 after Walton moved back to Los Angeles in which he made gutteral sounds while complimenting her dress and then hugging her before she moderated an hour-long panel in which Walton was the guest speaker.

After that, Tennant’s role changed to covering the Lakers full-time, which increased the frequency of their interactions and intensified the discomfort she felt around him. After a long personal absence, she eventually left Spectrum in 2018. Tennant said she never made Spectrum aware of her history with Walton.

For the last year, Tennant has worked on a wellness podcast that she started, while also working on broadcasts for the AVP tour. It was during this time that Tennant began to confide in Mardirossian, a longtime friend of her family, and began to plan legal action.

Tennant said she thinks sharing her story could help others who have found themselves in a similar situation.

“I think having more conversations like this and more women who come forward and talk about what they’ve been through is really important,” she said. “Because I think so many of us feel silenced and feel this burden of not wanting to risk everything you’ve worked so hard for.”

The Sacramento Kings released a statement on Monday in response to Tennant’s allegations against Walton “We are aware of the report and are gathering additional information. We have no further comment at this time.”

The NBA released a statement through spokesman Mike Bass to say they were working with the Kings to gather more information. Mardirossian indicated at the press conference that the NBA would conduct its own investigation.

Walton’s attorney, Mark Baute, also released a statement addressing the lawsuit late Monday night.

“Luke Walton retained me to defend him against these baseless allegations,” Baute said in a statement. “The accuser is an opportunist, not a victim, and her claim is not credible. We intend to prove this in a courtroom.”

Baute was not immediately available for comment after Tennant’s press conference.